Spectro-temporal behavior of dye-based solid-state random lasers under picosecond pumping regime

In this work, the spectral and temporal properties of the random laser emission from dye-doped solid state powders are investigated in picosecond pumping regime. Ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy achieved with a streak-camera has been used to perform a detailed study of the temporal evolution of the spectrum of their single pulses. Under conditions of low population inversion density, it is observed that the detected radiation occurs as isolated peaks with a very narrow spectro-temporally spread (ΔωΔt≅1). This behavior remains under conditions of high population inversion density, suggesting that the underlying physical mechanism that produces the emission is the same whatever the pumping conditions. Measurements carried out by varying the numerical aperture of the detection system show that each detected peak within a single pulse is associated with a photon pack emitted in a random direction and wavelength. The relationship between the distribution of paths lengths done by photons inside the active medium, and the gain explains the observed behavior.